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Here’s the paradox: if all characters understood what all the other characters were doing or even knew about all the other characters in Andor, the show would cease to be what it is. And episode 9 proves this paradox to be true. It’s a small reveal when we learn that Vel is chilling on Coruscant and that she is actually related to Mon Mothma, but it’s also in keeping with the style of the show that Vel doesn’t tell Mon Mothma any of the specifics of what she’s up to. This isn’t a criticism of the show at all, but it still feels odd to crave moments in which characters could give exposition to each other, but don’t.
So, as much as Andor keeps suggesting connections between characters who are all separated, it’s also possible that this season may end with several characters still being siloed in their own little worlds. We’re seeing Cassian and Melshi become closer allies in the prison, which is fodder for their backstory in Rogue One. There’s a good chance that they’ll continue to hang out all the way through the season finale, and perhaps even reconnect with Luthen. But, on the flip side, it also seems like Syril Karn is permanently stuck on his own, except of course, when he decides to stalk Dedra in this episode.
This is a strange metaphor for all the ships passing in the night in Andor. After the first three-episode arc, Syril was literally put into a box, away from all the other characters, until suddenly, he got pulled in for questioning by Dedra. Now he’s desperate to be in the main part of the show again! Vel is similar. She was instrumental to the biggest arc in the series so far, and now, here she is hanging out with Mon Mothma, poised to join a different aspect of the series, already in progress.
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But Mon Mothma sends Vel away, instructing her to lay low, possibly for the rest of the season. Meanwhile, Dedra tells Syril to stop stalking her or he’s dead meat. Even when one character from one section of the show crosses over to another, that crossover doesn’t stick. Luthen is possibly the only exception to all of this, of course, but it’s also impossible to imagine Cassian showing up on Coruscant in the next few episodes. Sure, now that he and Kino know that the prison is bogus, it seems obvious that next week will be a prison break episode. But where will Cassian go next? Will his knowledge of that prison matter to Luthen? To Mon Mothma? Will Dedra ever figure out she had Cassian in her grasp all along? Does it actually matter?
Andor is a show about many people, in many different places, doing things that link them all together. The puzzle has already been put together by the audience. The only thing that’s unclear is if any of these characters will get to see the big picture by the end. And if nobody does, maybe that’s the point.
